The Dallas movie we’ve been talking about for years now has once again been resurrected. Most of the cast from the last iteration has left, but Variety says John Travolta is still on board and now 20th Century Fox has managed to lasso Betty Thomas into talking to them about directing it.

Gurinder Chadha was the last person attached to direct. You probably remember as the person behind Bend it Like Beckham. She never seemed like a fit for Dallas, Thomas at least makes a little more sense. It is interesting that they’ve gone straight to another female director for the project. There aren’t exactly a lot of them (and more’s the pity), I wonder if it’s intentional?

Betty Thomas is certainly a decent director. She’s made borderline brilliant films like Private Parts as well as studio blockbusters like Doctor Dolittle. She handled Howard Stern, she should have no problem handling J.R.